Surge
by annaliesegrace
Summary: The one where Ward finds out about Skye and her powers. The hard way.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Surge

Author: Annaliesegrace

Rating: K

Summary: Ward finds out about Skye's powers the hard way.

Pairing: Ward/Skye

AN: This came out of my own tumblr blog (annaliesegrace) where I was speculating how Ward would find out about Skye's secret. So out came this one shot. I hope you enjoy.

Please leave a review on the way out, as a new AoS writer it gives me warm fuzzy feelings.

* * *

It was supposed to be an easy op. Get in, get the intel on the Clairvoyant, get out. But something had gone very wrong and now May and Ward were running through the maze-like facility, sirens blaring and lights flashing around them.

"Which way?" May asked as they came to a dead stop at an intersection. In an attempt to avoid security, the pair had been forced to abandon the path they knew took to the outside and instead try and navigate with Skye's help.

"Left," the hacker said through their earpieces and they made the turn at a slow jog, guns up.

Skye and Coulson were watching the action from an SUV a half mile away, through the facilities own security system that Skye had hacked. In addition she had managed to snag the building blueprints, which were currently coming in handy as she guided her SO and May through the winding halls.

"Next intersection hang a right, then about two hundred yards and you are home free," the hacker said, a wave of relief flowing through her.

It was a short lived feeling however, as suddenly the already loud alarms changed and a clanging sound could be heard.

May and Ward paused to assess the potential new threat. It took a moment to identify the source of the new noise but when they did the pair shared a concerned look.

A large bulkhead door ahead of them had started to close, which would effectively trap them in the hallway.

Then Skye's voice through the comms, "Security is coming toward you."

"Go!" Ward shouted and May took off, hearing Wards footsteps behind her. But as she approached the rapidly (too rapidly) closing door, a gunshot ricocheted off the frame 6 inches from her head. Looking back, May realized that Ward had stopped to return fire, one man was already down, and the other was quickly losing a hand to hand fight with the agent.

The door was already halfway closed; there was no way Ward would make it. None.

"Ward!" Skye was yelling, clearly having come to the same conclusion.

"Skye…stop the door." May said.

"I…I can't…" Skye responded, the anguish clear in her voice. "It's closed circuit, I would need to be onsite to disable it."

Just then Ward dropped the second guard to the ground and turned to May, realizing the problem.

"Go!" he yelled at her again and raised his gun down the opposite side of the hall, clearly intent on making sure she made it and stopping anyone else who may come around the corner.

For the briefest of moments May considered stopping and staying with him but it would do the team no good to have them both captured. This way, they could come back for him. With a slight nod she dropped to the ground and slid under the door, mere seconds before it crashed down and locked behind her.

* * *

"NO!" Skye yelled from the SUV and looked at Coulson. "If I can get in there I can disable it. I can do it, Coulson."

The older man seemed to consider her words before quickly shifting the car into drive and speeding through the woods toward the facility, which was unprotected - the unassuming nature of the building in the middle of nowhere provided enough protection that extra security was unnecessary.

"May, we are coming in, hold your position."

"Yes, sir," came the reply.

As Skye looked down at her laptop she let out an, "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Coulson and May said in tandem.

"Ward, security figured out where you are even though I disabled the damn cameras. Three minutes…maybe."

"Roger." Was his only response then they heard him checking his weapons.

"Which way Skye?" Coulson asked.

"Umm…they are near the north east doors."

Immediately the car was turned to the left and in a minute they had pulled up to a set of doors. There was only one ill-prepared guard standing there whom Coulson quickly knocked out.

Clutching her laptop, Skye led them through a series of three turns, after which they found May, who had been inspecting the door for a way to breech it.

"Look out," Skye said and practically shoved May out of the way to get to the control panel.

Which was completely flat.

Her heart sunk.

The door mechanisms weren't on the servers she had access to, and there were no inputs on the panel for her to hook her computer to hack it open, not a USB, not an SD disk…nothing. It was completely flat and black, no visible buttons to press. Again she looked at the screen that tracked Ward and security. The guards were maybe a minute and a half away.

"Shit," she hissed and shoved her computer at Coulson, who only just barely managed to keep the device from falling to the floor.

The hacker scrutinized the panel even as she could feel her anxiety rising. She had to save him; she couldn't let Ward fall into the Clairvoyant's hands, who know what would happen to him. Have his mind torn to shreds while they searched it for information on SHIELD. In her head she saw Ward strapped down on a cold table…

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the button-less panel, expecting it to light up. Nothing happened.

"No…"

Now she placed her palm on it, hoping that the device would try and scan her hand. Again nothing.

"Please, no…"

"Uhhh, guys," Wards calm voice came over the comms. "I'm out of time here."

Then a shot rang through the air. And another.

"NO!" she yelled again and desperately ran her fingers over the display, trying to activate something, anything.

"Get her out of here," Ward said, his voice strained.

"Skye," Coulson said. "We will come back for him."

She didn't respond, just kept pressing the panel with increasing frustration - they weren't going to leave him.

This time May, "We have to go."

"I'm not leaving him!" she shouted. And until her last day, Skye wouldn't know what possessed her to do it. What told her to do it.

But as Coulson grabbed her arm Skye placed her hand flat on the display again. At first nothing happened.

Then her entire body started to warm, it wasn't uncomfortable, just an odd sensation that covered her from head to toe. Then she could see it, lines and lines of computer code. But it wasn't displayed on the screen; she was seeing it in her head. Closing her eyes she focused on the code even as pain started tearing through her head.

She let out a strangled scream and heard Ward yelling but she couldn't makes out the words.

Keeping her eyes tightly closed she watched the code go by again, and when she found the line she needed, stopped the scrolling. The pain in her head was increasing with every effort she made but Skye pushed through, in her head she changed the code to what she needed.

Abruptly the pain in her head eased and she was able to open her eyes long enough to see tendrils of blue energy moving from her hand into the display, which was now lit up.

_Oh…that's interesting._

"Come on," she hissed.

That's when the door suddenly made a loud clicking noise and began to slowly open.

"Ward!" she heard May yell.

The other agent turned to see the gap between the door and the floor, sent off another couple shots and then dropped and slipped through just as a shot hit the door where he had been standing two seconds prior.

Skye was only peripherally aware of Ward sliding through the door, but as soon as he stood on their side she mentally went back into the code, this time slamming the door back down, separating them from the guards.

Then blackness overcame her.

Ward stood just in time to see the blue light coming from Skye's hand to the display suddenly cut off and the hacker drop to the floor in a heap, unconscious.

In an instant he was kneeling at her side, looking up at Coulson and May. "What the hell is going on?" he asked as he pulled her up so her upper body was lying across his thighs.

Banging could be heard from the other side of the door.

Coulson shot him a look and said, "Discuss later, pick her up, let's get out of here."

Wordlessly Grant picked up his junior agent and carried her bridal style; as they ran, he felt Skye twitching in his arms, her face buried into his chest - at some point she had become aware enough of what was going on to loop her arms around his neck.

May opened the back seat door and Ward slipped in with Skye still wrapped in his arms. The twitching had reduced in frequency but increased in severity, her entire body shook with the tremors.

"Someone want to tell me what happened in there?" he asked tersely as Coulson sat in the passenger seat, May slipping into the driver's side and instantly starting the SUV and pulling away.

"When we get back to the bus Agent," Coulson responded just as sharply and shared a look with May. Then, softer, "How is she?"

Grant placed his fingers on her neck and tilted his head slightly. "Pulse is elevated and she keeps shaking." He tried to pull her away from his torso but she clung tightly to him. "Skye…come on Skye, talk to me. I would really love to hear that voice of yours."

But there was no response from her.

"Still unresponsive, sir." There was a bit of a bite on the "sir", which did not go unnoticed by Coulson. But the senior agent chose to ignore it.

The remainder of the ride was spent in silence, with Grant holding onto Skye, constantly checking her vitals. As they approached the Bus, she finally started to still, the twitching coming only every couple minutes.

As they pulled into the bay, May disappeared up the spiral staircase to get the plane in the air before anyone could catch up with them.

"Take her to medical, we alerted Simmons. I'll meet you there."

Ward carried Skye to the small medical bay and laid her carefully down on the small bed, Simmons instantly at his side.

"What happened?" she asked while taking Skye's vitals.

"I wish I knew…" Ward said, the venom in his tone causing Simmons to pause momentarily.

"It wasn't something you needed to know, Agent Ward." Coulson said from the doorway before taking a step in, his eyes on the woman in the bed. "Until now."

"What didn't I need to know?"

"Skye's entire reason for getting into SHIELD was to find her parents. Until recently the only thing we knew was the agent that dropped her off was killed shortly after doing so. Execution style."

Ward glanced at Skye, still motionless on the bed. What had happened to her?

"May and I went to Mexico to find that agents partner. He had been in hiding for 22 years, ever since they found an 084 in a small Chinese village. Someone had killed every person in the village -"

"Sir, what does this have to do with Skye?"

"She was the 084 they were looking for, Ward. The agents that recovered her never saw any evidence of powers but clearly, they exist."

He flashed back to a conversation he'd had with Skye where she had said that CS just "came to her naturally".

"She reprogrammed that door to open-"

"With her mind." Coulson finished. "She put her hand on that panel and it was…it was like she went into a trance. May and I tried to get her to stop but I don't think she heard a word we said and we weren't sure if pulling her off would end up killing her…and us for that matter. Then the door opened and you know the rest."

Immediately Simmons scanned over Skye's head and a small "oh" came from the woman.

Ward turned. "Oh?"

"Well, um…the electrical activity in her brain is…off the charts, really. I've never seen levels so high."

"She's been twitching…" Ward supplied.

"That would be expected, it sounds like she produced significant energy to…do what she did. That energy has to go somewhere."

"Is she going to be ok?"

"She should be fine. The activity is swiftly slowing to normal levels, and I am not seeing any damage caused by…" she frowned a moment before continuing, "the event."

Relief flooded his body, when he had seen her fall to the floor Grant had the horrible thought that she was dead. That his rookie had died trying to save him, which was simply not an acceptable outcome for him. It wasn't how this worked, if anything Ward was prepared to die to protect her, to protect all of them. And now…he didn't give a shit if she had special magical powers, she was still his responsibility, his to protect.

Which he would do now.

"This was the first time she's…shown powers?" He asked Coulson.

"Yup," he responded, eyes still on the girl on the bed.

"Are you going to notify HQ?" It was procedure after all.

"Nope." Coulson's eyes moved up to meet Wards. "Right now this stays on the bus, am I clear? The reports will show a sudden, unexplained electrical surge that _happened_ to open the door."

He nodded in understanding. "I'd like to stay with her until she wakes, sir."

Coulson looked between Ward and Skye and for a moment the younger agent thought he saw a small, knowing smile form on the senior agents face, but as quickly as it was there it was gone.

"Fine. Just stay out of Jemma's way and notify me when she's conscious."

* * *

Ward had been sitting patiently at her side for nearly three hours. Jemma came every thirty minutes or so to check her vitals and brain activity and each time assured him that all was well and Skye would wake when she was ready. Despite her calm, confident tone, Grant could see the concern behind her eyes, concern that even though Skye's brain no long showed increased activity and was back to normal levels she still hadn't woken up.

Coulson had stopped by twice. The second time the man had also looked concerned that she still was unconscious. Ward had a bad feeling if she didn't wake soon, SHIELD would find out about Skye before they wanted, because they would be forced to take her to the medical wing at the Hub.

An unpleasant feeling settled into the pit of his stomach at that thought. If they showed up at the Hub with Skye in this condition there would be a lot of questions. Questions that would have to be answered truthfully; and then they would probably never see her again.

Ward sighed and leaned against the bed, his fingers reaching out and just ghosting over hers.

Awareness came slowly to her, her head hurt, her memory muddled and confused. Bits and pieces of something came together, running into a building, pressing her hand to a panel-

Ward!

Instantly her eyes snapped open and she sat up, startling the man sitting next to her.

"Skye!"

"Ward…" she breathed. Then again, this time with relief, "Ward…"

Of its own accord the hand not still resting on her hand came up and cupped her cheek, grounding Skye to the here and now. Her eyes scanned the room quickly.

"I'm on the bus."

"You are."

Then those dark browns settled on him. "And you're here."

"I am."

"Something happened…I…" she frowned but Ward could see her trying to remember and remained silent. "I couldn't connect my laptop to the door... You were on the other side." She looked to him and he nodded. "Guards were coming…lots of them. I…I don't know why I did it, but I put my hand on the panel and I could just…see the code, you know? In my mind. It was just…scrolling by." She laughed a little and his hand squeezed hers gently; the other one was still touching the side of her face, but had slid down some, so the tips of his fingers pressed into the scalp behind her ear.

"You opened the door," he said.

Skye leaned into his palm, the warmth bringing immediate calm. "In my head, I changed the code. And it happened, I could see the light from my hand to the panel…the door opened and you were there. After that I don't remember anything..."

There was silence as Skye realized what she had just revealed to her SO.

"I guess we need to talk," she finally said.

"I guess we do," he responded and dug his fingers farther into her hair. "But we'll do it another time. Right now you need to rest."

"But…" she tried to protest but a headache chose that moment to make its self known, pounding behind her eyes.

It must have shown on her face because using the hand in her hair he carefully guided her back down onto the small bed and removed his hand. As her head hit the pillow she shifted her body to lie on her side, facing him.

"No buts…get some sleep, that's an order."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she whispered and closed her eyes against the pain.

"Don't apologize; you did what you had to. And I look forward to hearing the whole story. Later."

"Ok…night, Grant."

The use of his rarely-heard first name startled him briefly but Ward recovered and pushed some hair that had fallen over her face back behind her shoulder. "Night, Skye."

And he settled in for another couple hours of sitting in the chair.

END?

Ok, I intended to leave this as a one shot, but if there is any interest I might do a second chapter of their conversation.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Oh. Mah. God. You guys, I am completely FLOORED by the response to the first chapter of this fic. Seriously, never have I had so many reviews and favorites and follows overnight; I had like 38 emails the next morning. And because of that I was super motivated to create a chapter two. It's more with the talk and less with the action and shorter, but I hope you enjoy it.

And thank you SO much…still stunned, seriously. As always, please leave a review.

* * *

_Surge (noun): __a __strong,__wavelike,__forward __movement__. (electricity): to increase suddenly, as current or voltage_

* * *

Twelve hours after Ward had carried her onto the bus, Simmons released Skye from the small med bay – although it was somewhat reluctantly. The biochemist had instructed Skye multiple times to tell her the second anything felt abnormal. All they knew was Skye's brains electrical activity had gone off the charts and then returned to normal but Simmons was still concerned about long term damage.

After reassuring each member of the team she was fine, just tired, and a short (private) meeting with Coulson, Skye disappeared into her bunk insisting she needed some real sleep that wasn't interrupted every hour to have vitals taken.

Despite her reassurances, Ward barely moved out of eyesight of her bunk. He was constantly staring at the closed door, tempted to knock just to make sure she really was ok. When the eighth hour of silence from the hacker rolled through, his anxiety was high enough that Ward considered overriding protocols and turning on the camera in her bunk. Each of their private spaces was equipped with cameras that were turned on only in an emergency. Of the life-threatening kind. He was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter holding a bottle of water and debating if this could be considered life threatening when May strolled in and stopped directly in front of him.

"You have to stop this," she said quietly.

Ward tore his gaze away from Skye's door to look at her. "Stop what?"

May narrowed her eyes at him. "You know what. She is fine."

It was Wards turn to narrow his eyes. "She opened a door with her mind May, she had blue energy coming from her hand and excess electrical activity in her brain. To save my ass."

"And that's what's bothering you, isn't it? That she risked her life for you."

"Yes…no. I don't know."

"Ward…be honest with yourself. If it had been me who did that, would you be this concerned?"

He chuckled dryly. "You would've left me there."

"If it was the right tactical decision, yes, I would have. But that's not the point."

He sighed. "Then what is the point?"

"Her…powers aside, it's gnawing at you that she went back into that building to rescue you. Because that's your job…isn't it?" He didn't respond - they both knew the answer. "You care about her, Ward. More than you should, probably."

"May…"

She actually graced him with smile – pained as it was. "It's ok, Ward. You and me…it was just about sex, we both know that."

"Skye and I-"

"Don't try to deny it. You didn't see your face in that hall when she fell. And I saw the terror in your eyes while you held onto her in the car, worried that she would die right there. And everyone noticed you didn't leave her in medical for longer than 20 minutes at a time."

Instead of trying another deflection, Ward glanced at Skye's door again then back to May. "I don't know what I feel."

May grabbed his bicep, squeezing gently. "You'll figure it out. But in the meantime, give her space. You're not the only one who's confused. She found out she's an 084 and a couple weeks later did…whatever the hell that was."

With that the woman grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and disappeared back toward the cockpit, leaving him standing there, still staring at his rookie's door.

Ward considered May's words. Yes, he cared for Skye. Was it more than he should? Maybe. Ok…probably. There was just something about her that intrigued him. While he and May were very similar people in both personality and tactical thinking, he and Skye couldn't be more different. She was a free spirit, doing whatever came to her without much thought behind it. While he functioned best with SHIELD protocols to guide him, she pushed the boundaries, not caring what protocol dictated.

Which was why he was standing on the Bus in that moment – by all rights he should be in the hands of the Clairvoyant. The smart move would have been to leave him there and come back rather than risk the team. And herself.

* * *

Another hour passed and Ward was reclined on one of the couches by the kitchen, so engrossed in a book he didn't even hear her door open.

"Everyone sleeping?" she asked and Ward looked up, startled. A small smile crossed her face. "Did I just scare you?"

"No, of course not and yes, they are."

She looked at him skeptically and walked toward the kitchen, pulling out a glass and container of orange juice. Silently he took her in, with her hair in two braids and wearing cotton pajama pants and a soft grey t-shirt she looked all the world like a college student. For a moment he wished she was a college student, far away from here, far away from him and SHIELD and…well, danger.

Turning to face him, she took a long drink of the juice.

"How are you feeling?" he asked once half the glass was gone.

She shrugged and pushed off the counter, approaching him. "Head still hurts a little and I keep thinking my hand is tingling. But that might be in my head." Skye looked down at her hand and flexed it a few times.

Ward swung his feet off the couch and she moved almost hesitantly toward him, pausing just a moment before sitting where his feet had just been. He put the book down on the table next to him.

"Did Coulson tell you when we found out…about me?"

"Yup…six months ago, while we were at the Academy and they made their little side trip."

She nodded and looked down into the juice. "I should have told you then…"

"Skye-"

"After Miles, I was trying so hard to be honest with all of you. I wanted you to be able to trust me, Ward."

Ward bristled slightly at the mention of the other hacker but the look on her face had him softening instantly. She looked so…lost. And he felt instantly guilty; Ward hadn't exactly been entirely honest with her either. "I do trust you. Before yesterday did you know what kind of power you had?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Then there wasn't anything to tell."

"But Ward…"

He cut her off with a look and shifted on the couch, pulling one leg up so he was sitting sideways. "It was a smart tactical decision, keeping it between you and Coulson and May. The more people who know about this…about you, the more danger you are in. There has never been record of a human 084. To people like Ian Quinn, you would be worth your weight in gold."

Skye nodded and placed the mostly empty glass of juice on the table before turning toward him. "People have been killed because of me, Ward. A lot of people, trying to protect me…"

"They died because they knew you were…special, Skye. Even if they didn't know exactly how special." Hesitantly he reached one arm along the back of the couch, his fingers just brushing one of the braids that fell over her shoulder.

Unconsciously she leaned into the touch and before long his hand had moved up and cupped her cheek gently. The feel of his warm hand sent a comforting sensation through her body. But at the same time she was worried…terrified even.

"If anyone finds out it was me in that building yesterday…they will come after me. And all of you will…will be in the way."

Then Ward grinned, actually grinned. "They will have to go through Coulson, May and I first."

She looked alarmed and pulled away from him. "No! Enough people have died trying to protect me, you can't do that, you can't."

"So, what? We're supposed to let them have you?"

"Yes! Just…let me go Ward. If it comes down to it, I'd rather you be alive then dead trying to save me."

Something she couldn't quite define clouded his face. "That's not an option, Skye. There is no way in hell I would let someone take you from us."

"Even SHIELD? Cause you know they would whisk me away to the Hub or Sandbox or some other place I haven't even heard of yet to figure out what I was. First human 084 and all."

The response was instant, "Even SHIELD."

She looked surprised; never did she think her by-the-book SO would ignore orders. "So if SHIELD showed up here and ordered you to turn me over?"

"I'd tell them to shove it," he said and the arm that had been on the back of the couch dropped to lightly grasp her hand that rested in her lap.

Skye looked down at their linked hands; it felt so natural, his warm skin against hers. Her small hand engulfed in his. Then she looked up. "You'd do that?"

"Yes."

"You don't know what I am, Ward. Yeah, I opened a door with my mind…totally freaky, by the way. But who knows what else is…lurking inside me. I could blow one day and take all of you with me."

Ward was quiet a few moments, considering her words. And as he was thinking his thumb was running across her knuckles slowly, relaxing her body and mind enough that she leaned her side against the back of the couch, resting her head on the cushion. "I'll take my chances," he finally said and smiled.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, each unsure what to say next. His thumb continued to stroke slowly across the skin of her knuckles, then moved to the inside of her wrist.

"Ward, I-" she started but a yawn interrupted her. "Oh, come on, I just got up."

"Simmons says you expended a lot of energy getting that door open, and said you would need extra sleep." With that he tugged on her wrist and simultaneously reclined on the couch, pulling her smaller body onto his. With just a few moves, Ward was lying on his back, head on a pillow on the arm, Skye tucked on her side between his body and the back of the couch, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Sleep," he whispered into her hair.

"I was going to say I was hungry before I was rudely interrupted by that yawn."

"Uh huh…want you get up now?"

Ward swore she snuggled in closer to his body before responding in an almost dreamy voice. "No, no…I'm good."

"Alright then, sleep and I will make breakfast when you wake up."

"Yes, sir," she mumbled into his chest and a warm, content feeling rushed through Ward. In this moment he could protect her, hold her close and made sure she slept and when she woke made sure she ate. And if someone came looking for her, to take her from them – from him – he would stop them at all costs.

With her safely tucked against him - and for the first time in nearly thirty six hours - Ward fell asleep.

END

* * *

I actually have an idea for a super short drabble-like epilogue to this. We shall see if I can make it happen soon.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Ok, I had to do this short epilogue but I promise this story is done now. Because I need to move onto a post-TRACKS one that's swirling in my head. And I'm taking fic requests, if you have em…PM me, leave them in a review or shoot me a note on Tumblr (same name as here…annaliesegrace).

THANK YOU to everyone who favorite, followed and especially those who reviewed. Makes my day. I am still blown away by the response this story has gotten.

Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review…they are always appreciated.

* * *

Epilogue

Phil Coulson woke four hours after falling asleep; stretching he tried to go back to sleep but found he couldn't get his mind to settle. Skye weighed heavy on him, now that her power had manifested surely it would again and Coulson wasn't confident they could continue to keep it from SHIELD. Only so many "electrical surges" could be explained away.

Deciding to get up and maybe convince May to show him some Tai Chi, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and blue t-shirt and went down the stairs.

Without turning on the lights he made a cup of coffee using the new Keurig machine Skye had insisted on.

Cup in hand, he snagged an apple as well and turned to head to May's bunk, and came to a dead stop.

_Well, that's interesting…_

Lying on one of the couches was Agent Ward and Skye, she was lying half on him, half shoved between her SOs larger body and the cushions, he had both arms wrapped protectively around her torso. They were sound asleep. And…she was drooling on him.

He stood there for several minutes, watching the pair.

A small smile cracked on his face. Relationships between agents were technically against protocol (and yes, he had given Ward a hard time about May – but that was born more of Coulson being protective of her than protocols), but Coulson also knew a certain Strike Team Delta that not only broke the rule but flaunted it on a regular basis. And technically Skye was not an agent, she was a consultant.

"He's attached to her," a quiet voice said from next to him.

"Obviously," he replied just as quietly and turned to see May standing beside him, dressed in workout clothes. Did the woman ever sleep?

"She makes him smile."

Coulson looked at her. "Aren't you two…" She silenced him with a look that told him all he needed to know – she wasn't emotionally involved. "Alright then."

Then May looked him up and down and whispered, "You aren't planning on working out in that are you?"

Looking down at himself he frowned, what was wrong with what he was wearing? "Yes, problem?"

The look on her face told him that yes, it was, but she narrowed her dark eyes at him and responded, "No, come on, let them sleep."

With a last look at the pair on the couch, Coulson followed May toward the back of the plane.

* * *

Ward woke first, initially confused about the weight that covered his right side. Then the weight sighed and shifted and he remembered.

And he had to resist jumping up from the couch - this was not a position they should be found in by anyone, but especially Coulson.

So despite the fact Ward wanted to let her sleep (especially on him), he gently roused her by rubbing his hands gently but firmly across her back and whispering her name. It was only after the fifth "Skye" came out of his mouth that she finally moved in earnest, lifting her head groggily from his chest.

And he realized there was a wet spot on his shirt - she'd drooled on him.

Then, as if realizing their positions, she snapped up, pulling herself off him and for a moment Ward missed her warmth.

"Hey," he said quietly and reached out, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped her braids behind an ear.

"Hey," she replied back and shifted more to a sitting position, forcing him to do the same.

"You ok? How's the head?"

"Better actually."

"Still hungry?" he asked and her stomach grumbled loudly in response. They both laughed a little. "I guess that's a yes."

He stood and stretched and when he looked down at her she wore an apprehensive expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked and sat on the coffee table in front of her.

"So do we just pretend that yesterday didn't happen?" They both knew she was referring to her powers.

"Nothing has changed except we are armed with new knowledge."

She gave the couch a sideways look. "_Nothing_ has changed? I think-"

He interrupted; this was not a conversation for now – he hadn't quite sorted out his feelings for her. "Are you hungry or not?"

"Starving," she said and stood when he did, following him into the kitchen.

When her hand went for a cereal bowl he gave her a stern look. "No, I said I'd make you breakfast, so I am. Something that doesn't come coated in sugar."

"Pancakes?" she asked hopefully. Then at least she could have syrup.

"No, no pancakes. Omelets. With vegetables," he said and starting pulling out ingredients.

She pouted at him.

"Fine, you can have bacon." She brightened at that and Ward internally rolled his eyes. "Now, out of my way."

"Yes, sir," she chirped and moved to the opposite side of the kitchen, hopping up on the counter to watch him chop green peppers and tomatoes.

It was the best damn omelet she'd ever had.

Not that Skye would ever tell him that.

END


End file.
